Oklahoma City---For the first time this season and only the third time in the history of the USA Softball National Player of the Week award there are Co-National Player’s of the Week announced today by the Amateur Softball Association. Oklahoma senior third baseman Norrelle Dickson (Orange, Calif.) and Virginia Tech junior hurler Angela Tincher (Eagle Rock, Va.) have been selected as Co-National Player’s of the Week for the week of March 19-25.

Tincher led her Virginia Tech squad to a conference series win at Florida State, posting a pair of 1-0 victories. On Saturday, she tossed an eight-inning perfect game, the first in Virginia Tech history, as the Hokies picked up the 1-0 win in the eighth frame. She fanned 18 of the 24 batters she faced in the perfect outing.

"I want to thank USA Softball for this big honor. It's one I share with my team because you can't throw a perfect game and a one-hitter without great defense behind me. I also have to credit my catcher, Kelsey Hoffman, for calling two great games. She kept a great-hitting Florida State team off balance,” said Tincher of her performance. “Our offense came through with big runs in both games to support me and help us to win. Hopefully we can build on our success this past weekend as we head into the second half of the season."

On Sunday, Tincher flirted with another no-hitter, taking it into the seventh before giving up an infield single. She finished with a one-hit shutout as the Hokies posted another 1-0 victory. For the weekend, she pitched 15.0 innings of shutout ball, struck out 29, walked none, hit one batter and gave up just one hit.

For her season, Tincher is 20-3 with a 0.43 ERA and 330 strikeouts in just 155.0 innings pitched. She has two no-hitters and two other perfect games.

"Angela has been throwing well all season and Kelsey Hoffman has been doing a good job catching her. Angela has been awesome and was again so this weekend against a very good Florida State team,” said head coach Scot Thomas. “She's been diligent in staying healthy and throwing a lot of quality innings. We're proud of her accomplishments and she's certainly leading the way for us right now."

Dickson led the Sooners to a 3-1 record this week in Big 12 play while also making history as she became the career hits and runs scored leader at the University of Oklahoma. Dickson broke the career hits record on Sunday against No. 10 Texas going 5-for-5 against the Longhorns. She now owns the lead with 297 hits in her career, passing former OU player Kristin Vesely’s mark of 293. The senior also set the career record in runs scored during their win over Texas Tech surpassing former Sooner Christy Ring. She now owns the top mark with 211 runs scored in her tenure at Oklahoma.

“This is really special to me because this is the first time in my career I have ever gotten this,” Norrelle Dickson said. “Our team did a great job this weekend and I just went out there and tried to be an offensive leader all week and get our offense going. It was exciting to break the school records and leave my mark on the program. Hopefully I can continue to be consistent through Big 12 play and our team can continue to improve.”

In addition to setting career records, Dickson was impressive at the plate posting an impressive .750 batting average (12-for-16) to lead the Sooners to two wins over Texas Tech and a victory over rival Texas. She was perfect in two games against the Longhorns going 7-for-7 with two walks while notching a 1.429 slugging percentage and posting 10 total bases against UT.

Despite OU’s extra-innings loss to the Longhorns on Sunday, Dickson went 5-for-5 from the plate with a triple and an RBI. The five hits in one game marked a career high for the Sooner while she also set a career high with seven total bases in Sunday’s contest.

“Norrelle was such a huge offensive catalyst for us this weekend,” head coach Patty Gasso said. “She was absolutely in the zone all weekend and was clutch for us in all four games. She had a great offensive performance against some very good pitching. I’m excited for her because this honor is very deserving.”

For the week as the lead off batter she amassed a .778 on-base percentage with two RBI on a 1.000 slugging percentage. She also stole two bases during the week, including one against highly touted UT catcher Megan Willis.

This is the first-time honor for both Dickson and Tincher.

ABOUT ASA
The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 84 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 240,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit www.asasoftball.com.

ABOUT USA SOFTBALL
USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of the only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won eight World Championship titles including the last six consecutive. For more information about USA Softball, please visit www.usasoftball.com